| Update Page #6 |
European Trip! Monday March 25th Our trip actually began sunday night. We got on the plane sunday at 8pm and landed in Amsterdam at 7am monday (That's flying time plus a six hour time change). The kids did pretty good on the flight. It helped that it was a night flight and we were able to sleep away the most boring part of the trip. It also didn't hurt that there was a TV in front of every seat that had one channel that played the Disney channel! Thank You Disney! Doug met us at the airport. That alone would have made the trip for me but I guess it would be a little boring for anyone else who may be reading this update! As we drove from Amsterdam to our house in Julianadorp we passed field after field filled with daffodils, hyacinth, crocus, and of course tulips. The two other things there seemed to be lots of were (surprize!) windmills and sheep. Tuesday March 26th Today we met some new friends Orit and her baby daughter Ameet. Orit's husband Roy is a submarine officer in the Israeli Navy and is attending the same Dutch course as Doug. Since the guys had to work we decided to get together and take the kids to the pool which is part of the resort where our house was. The pool has a four story waterslide, a small lazy river, hot tubs, a kiddie pool, and bubble loungers. Everyone had a good time and the kids had their first taste of Dutch fast food. They had Frikendel, which is sausage fried in dough. It got thumbs up from everyone. Wednesday March 27th Happy Birthday to Me! Since Doug had to work this day we decided that we would celebrate our birthdays together (his is March 31st) on another day. Instead this day was devoted to Homework (had to keep up), a trip to the grocery store, and a trip to the playground. Dutch grocery stores have pretty much everything American grocery stores have. The biggest difference is that people seem to go everyday so they don't buy a lot of things in one trip. You have to rent shopping carts (like luggage carts at the airport) and buy shopping bags. Also you have to bag your own groceries.This is where having four kids can come in handy (slave labor). One of the possible reasons that the Dutch buy so few things and shop so often might be because of the size of their refrigerators. We were in several homes and the average size was about the same as you would find in an American college dorm or hotel room. Thursday March 28th Today we were invited to visit Doug at work. We got to go see him in action in the trainer. The trainer is a room fitted out exactly like the control room on a submarine. The guys practiced sinking enemy ships and submarines (computer simulated) then practiced not getting run over or sunk by the other enemy ships and or airplanes. It's amazing how Doug and the other officers were able to do so many things so fast. It looked very real. Now you're asking yourself "How would she know if it looked real?" I've seen my share of Tom Clancy movies! Afterwards the kids got to take turns looking out the periscope, listening to the sonar, and working the other controls. After seeing the trainer we got to go on a tour of a real submarine, the HMS WALRUS. Dutch submarines are smaller than American subs but seem much bigger and roomier form the inside. I'm told that this is because their submarines run on diesel engines and therefore don't require all the (Cont) |
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